just. played an important role. 279 schoolgirls have been released in northern nigeria after being kidnapped by gunmen on friday. kind of their i missed on the tape this is al jazeera live from dot com also coming up. police in myanmar fire a protest as as neighboring countries hold talks with the military to try to find a way out of the crisis. from baby powder to baby vaccines pharmaceutical giant

johnson and johnson says it plans to test its private 1000 vaccine on infants. nearly 4000000 coronavirus vaccine doses arrived in nigeria as part of the global kovach scheme to inoculate foreign nations. now $279.00 school girls kidnapped more than 4 days ago in nigeria have been freed the students of a government run school in the northern state of them regained their freedom after 4 days of tense negotiations it is just reports now from goose out in zamfara stay . there i have to go on. their way into the office of the governor exhausted and some too sick to watch. they're served meals in an office where normally cabinet meetings are held with their 1st decent meals in

days they gathered the strength to tell us what happened saying it does it was. they drove us like animals some of us were falling and getting injured they made us trek for 2 to 3 hours and spent the 1st 2 days in the camp they pushed us forward threatening to kill anyone who refused to move despite the blisters on our feet they forced us to walk further into we reach the 2nd and then the 3rd camp. the $279.00 students like kidnapped while they were sleeping in their boarding school dormitories in the town of jungle in circumstances similar to the kidnapping of more than $270.00 goes in she broke into into 14 this man a former bandage says he left several others to help bring the goals back. we met and told them we came in peace to leave with the girls who for no fault of theirs found themselves in such a situation they also spoke about their grievances and why they took the girls it

was a long difficult process full of tension but we also came ready and prepared for the unforeseen the goes have now been taken to a secure location for medical examinations before they are reunited with their families but that hasn't stopped excited parents like the one who's managed to get close to where they are. my joy is indescribable i called my wife to tell her the girls are back i haven't seen my daughter but i'm relieved she's back in the past 4 days now we can afford to sleep and smile. the governor of them for a state has offered amnesty to gunmen who said and insists dialogue with the bandits will continue despite the pitfalls that we are now fighting. and those repentant ones are working for us and they are looking for the government . so we're going to continue with the truth because not all of them that.

they want. to release of the 50. 8 because nobody can be able to get the kidnapping of these goes on friday i was before the release of another set of students kidnapped in central nigeria there's an for attack is a 6 school kidnapping in northern nigeria in recent years where the girls back attention is now shifting to the future of education with schools continuously being targeted especially in northern part of nigeria there are fears that the region which has the highest rates of poverty may fall even farther behind it's not clear if these girls will have the courage to return to school or even if their parents allow them to return but for now they're happy to enjoy their freedom hoping the government will do more to protect them. but he agrees. with a nigerian. well elsewhere in nigeria in the northeast where boko haram has been battling the government for more than a decade now several aid workers are trapped at the u.n.

base a spencer grave of boko haram attacked a humanitarian hub there fighters from a group that calls itself islamic state west africa province invaded the town of and borno state officials say military reinforcements jets and helicopters have been deployed. well moving on to some other wild news and security forces in myanmar are cracking down even further on protesters 2 days after the bloodiest day yet since in the tree crew there are reports also that live rounds were fired in the northwestern town of kalak. and this was the scene in yangon where they have been street battles between police and secret demonstrations on tuesday that's all despite the use of as you can see increasingly violent tactics to disperse the crowds at least 18 people were killed on sunday well tony chang is monitoring the situation for us from bangkok in neighboring thailand toni's we've been saying despite this brutal crackdown people still pouring into

the streets and it really doesn't look like it's going to live let up even though we're seeing more live rounds. it does. does we're seeing it sort of an escalation in the over the last few days they have been using live rounds but they're using them in different places every day the protesters also coming out better prepared to a certain extent with improvised shields improvised body armor helmets but i think the big concern is that it is escalating every week it's getting worse we're now in the 4th week since the coup the 4th week of these protests to be down on the streets now the protesters are still commanding huge numbers in the last 2 days we haven't seen as many as on sunday but in sunday they were coming out in the 10s if not hundreds of thousands not just in the bigger been sent as i that you mentioned the shooting of live rounds in the city of kelly earlier today there in the far west of the country on the border with india but it's happening out in other

extreme areas too in tongue yesterday there were big protests in shan state on the border with thailand and 60 people were arrested so you know really everyone is getting caught up in this i think what we're seeing from the military is a sort of in their terms and inching up of the escalation so they're not using live rounds at all these protests sites every day but they are trying to give people maximum fear that when they do go out on the streets and they do take part in these coup activities there they could well be facing soldiers snipers we've seen out on the streets police firing live rounds using large amounts of tear gas rubber bullets and in those urban centers you mentioned young gone just now there were many process in many different parts of the city in the south and away as well and

we've also heard about the security services starting to pull people off the streets checkpoints checking their social media on their phones if they're found to pose. did anything supportive of the the protests and the civil disobedience movement they're being detained and i think again this is being done to create a blanket feeling of fear across the country to the venture everyone who feels so too scared to take part in these protests anymore well tony as we watch this crackdown the while those watching international pressure is also clearly building on the military is any of that having any kind of impact. well we've got sanctions in place from the united states from the u.k. the e.u. i think whatever arm was looking for was was a sim a similar type of push from our c.m. the association of southeast asian nations their foreign minister ministers were meeting today virtually to discuss the issue we've just seen in the last half an

hour a statement released by the chair and frankly it's pretty weak it says that some countries within the group called for the release of political. people in detention obviously they're referring to she and other members of the n.l. the had been taken by the military if it also suggests there is a disparity in the grouping we've seen individual statements coming from singapore coming from malaysia coming from indonesia very little from the country that really counts here thailand is a country also ruled by generals that is known to have particularly good relations with the senior generals in myanmar they've been very quiet it was the 1st country that the military sends an envoy to. since the coup but there's been very little coming out of thailand i think this is one place that really could have an influence on the generals but from the statement we've seen from asio and today it

appears as a grouping is going to be taking particularly firms that particularly time is going to be stepping above the parapet. tony chang there with all the latest for us from bangkok in thailand thank you very much tony well as tony was saying assy and foreign ministers have been meeting virtually today to discuss the situation in myanmar jessica washington has more on that meeting. so the point. is we don't get all the countries raised during this meeting but we know that indonesia has been at the forefront of trying to organize these meetings between foreign ministers and trying to organize some sort of meeting at the in the end it ended up being a virtual meeting between ministers. and all the countries have stressed for this process is that this meeting does not confer any sort of legitimacy on the military it is not showing any support but this is the start of a dialogue and the start of normalizing the situation. you know that indonesia has

been the biggest advocate in the on. democratic transition to some of the stated aims we heard from the foreign minister. is that the safety and welfare of the people should be at the forefront of that. humanitarian access and that should stand ready to assist in the process. also political prisoners should be released and that violence should come through and she condemned the violence on the military she also stressed that the family that there is an opportunity for this organization to prove that it has a role to play in. disputes such as this but that can only happen if me and is willing to open the door now she said that this has to be a dialogue that the democratically elected leaders of me and to have

a role in that process as she said ready to facilitate the process of normalizing the democratic transition in me and ma but that me and my house to make that make allowances for that to happen in the 1st place so it is a long process ahead you know the foreign minister of. depends what they say and that will really dictate whether once again we'll have a unified approach to combating this crisis. now u.s. president joe biden is set to announce an unusual partnership between pharmaceutical rivals that aims to fast track the country's vaccine rolled out there are reports that merck will help make johnson and johnson single shot coronavirus vaccine and johnson and johnson has confirmed that it will be testing its proven $1000.00 vaccine on children and expanded trials johnson and johnson's vaccine is the only single day jobs have been approved in the 3rd one to be approved by u.s. regulators nearly 4000000 doses are now being delivered across the country where we

cannot speak to a white house correspondent can be how it can be this does seem a rather unorthodox arrangement between these companies are everyone's really banding together and teaming up with this rollo. well there's no question that when we hear from the white house and later today when this is announced officially that this will be championed as an example of corporate citizenship you're right these are 2 rival drug companies merck as well as johnson and johnson rarely do you see this type of partnership on such a large scale but there is a little bit of method to the madness and it has to do with the fact that they both need each other right now merck was an able tried and failed to put together its own vaccine johnson and johnson successful getting that f.d.a. approval as of last saturday but not having the production facilities available and so they were unable to meet the requirements under their government contract so

this is why the by the administration stepped in to try and broker this partnership merck is one of the largest vaccine production companies in the world and so they have the capacity so what we understand is there will be 2 different facilities in the united states dedicated to getting this johnson and johnson vaccine out one of the merck facilities will be actually producing the vaccine the other will be packaging it into the vials again the white house expected to when they make this announcement official champion this as being significant in terms of corporate partnership unseen but example of companies stepping up in these very uncertain times during this global pandemic white house correspondent candy how can they force in d.c. thanks so much company. still ahead here on al-jazeera as the u.k. queue up to host a climate summit a new coal mine project is threatening to undermine its credibility.

how i once again we've got some quotes weather now pushing across japan we've had a fair bit of rain and some snow coming through on this particular weather system but it is making its way for a tightly packed ice about say quite a brisk northerly wind to freshen up will see temperatures at around 13 celsius for tokyo then on away to stay off the name fine and dry across the korean peninsula southerly winds here 10 degrees celsius also into beijing and that's right weather across a good parts of northern china but push a little further south you can see we have got some showers coming in here and they are gathering there pushing up towards at least the side of china running across shanghai into the east china sea south korea will see some wet weather by thursday and it will eventually just not its way over towards southern parts of japan not so

many showers across south asia at the moment it is lossy fighting for a little bit a fair weather cloud into central areas thick enough clout to produce one or 2 well wintry flowers around the foothills of the himalayas may see a shower too into past the pole maybe over towards bhutan as we go through the next day or so but the roots tending to just not a little further east with temperatures doing quite nicely still very much on the warm side ever the next couple of days that poor will see temperatures at 38 celsius when other found heights. jump into this story there is a lot going on in this. global community when i talk about the misinformation i think we all want to read than we are nowhere to be part of the debate you're never . i think everybody has one word because there's always a difference when no topic is off the table we have been disconnected from our land we have been disconnected from who we are good enough to heat

a new an eating could be part of today's discussion this streamed on out is there. and a value watching out is there let's remind you of our top stories this hour 279 schoolgirls kidnapped in the northwestern nigerian state of zamfara have been released government took them from a state run school on friday and salacious of a series of abductions in the region. and security forces a neon mob cracking down further against protesters 2 days after the bloodiest day yet and the rest there are reports of live rounds were used in the northwestern town of kalak. and u.s.

president joe biden is set to announce an unusual partnership between pharmaceutical rivals that aims to fast track the country's vaccine rollout there are reports that muck will help to produce johnson and johnson's coronavirus jobs. and now nigeria has received its 1st back scenes through the global kovacs sharing scheme close to 4000000 astra zeneca jobs arrived in the capital abuja on tuesday health care and frontline workers will be the fast to be inoculated that it's the 3rd west african country to benefit from this u.n. sponsored program nigeria expects to receive 60000000 doses eventually through kovacs on the w.h.o. expects the 237000000 doses will be delivered to 142 countries by the end of may through that kovacs facility well that's now speaks of peace of hawkins he is the unicef representative in nigeria and he joins us now from a vision of peace or i magine it's a bit of a day of celebration for you there nigeria vaccines finally in the country but will people take them. absolutely and we are celebrating but it's one small

step as you said it has a long way to go. before we get sufficient vaccine in the country to be able to. fulfill our obligations to the people of of nigeria but close to $4000000.00 is a big amount it's a fantastic step forward for nigerian a fantastic step for for the whole of africa and people will take some there's no question about that in the same way as many people said at the beginning people will not wear masks people are starting to wear masks it's very difficult it's a. big change and with the vaccine is the same i remember in 2003 when people were against the polio vaccine we slowly slowly worked with the the different communities with the traditional leaders the religious group beings both the community and at state level and slowly slowly we started working

through that and fact seen hesitancy is something that will happen but we need to work now on addressing that and looking at different ways of helping the communities and helping individuals overcome their own fears because at the end of the day if they protect themselves they're protecting their family and protecting their communities well presented this potential vaccine skepticism here i see that these ones that he had asked with anika jabs and they turned them down is there a reluctance perhaps in other parts of the continent to take them and concerns about whether or not they'll actually wept for variants that. i think that will be an ongoing debate. as the pandemic evolves as as coded 19 evolves and the mutates they will the vaccine will have to keep abreast with it i don't think there is a problem there you know the astra zeneca is a is a good fight scene the there are looking at all the time how appropriate

is in a country like nigeria and the quicker we get people vaccinated the less likely the pandemic itself will overtake so that was that's why it's so keen the key that nigeria gets this amount this quickly and the kovacs facility is done in extremely well to bring this amount 3940000 doses into nigeria today on the 2nd of march which is a fantastic achievement when you're talking there about speed right because this is all an enormous logistical challenge especially in terms of then getting the starts out to rural areas also ones where security is a struggle as we were hearing earlier now but also how do you actually see this rollout going in nigeria. well that's going to be the challenge the 1st challenge was getting this amount of vaccine in the country this quickly unicef managed to do that. through a fantastic operation over the past 3 days and was thankful for them for doing that

but now yes we need to get it to the states the culture change system is working as quickly as possible by the end of this week and then to the local government areas and their $1200000.00 front line workers with health workers they will be prioritize and the quicker we can use this vaccine to prioritize them and then move on to the 2nd phase which are those who are compromised and then the over fifty's and so on and so forth 16000000 facts doses of being committed and once there's that 60000000 has been used more will will come and will be unchanged peter just looking at that rollout gonna. nigeria and seeing kenya there's also been a lot of misinformation around that and the vaccine in tanzania for instance we're talking now also just about a few 1000000 vaccines that have been distributed so if on

a continent of more than a 1000000000 people are you confident that they will eventually be enough and how long might that take. well danger is a good example is a population of 200000000 so. with a double dose vaccine we would expect to need roughly $300000000.00 to be able to get some kind of immunity $4000000.00 against the $300000000.00 is a small amount but we have to start somewhere and that small step this early in the in the campaign is critical and then to build momentum hopefully by the end of the year by the end of 2021 we should get between 40 to 50 percent of the population flaxen ated and they need to 2022 the remaining 20 or 30 percent of the book elation vaccinated and maybe even more as as we go along. it's is an enormous logistical exercise but if i may you know covert fact seen is one thing

and that. is important enough but getting the health workers vaccinated allows them to continue to vaccinate and immunize children which is also as important as getting cove it done so trying to play to both at the same time is our aspiration and critical for nigeria to be able to ensure that his children survived as well as pushing back the pandemic of course he's a holkins there the unicef representative in nigeria we do wish you all the best with your work and the roll out in around the country thanks so much for being with us. thank you very much indeed. living on an amnesty international says war crimes are being committed in mozambique's northern coverdell got a province and a new report the rights group says hundreds of people have been killed vessels 2017 and stock amended extrajudicial its executions human rights violations and indiscriminate attacks the u.n.

says the violence has forced more than 500000 people to leave their homes when i spent 2 years of adam he's a retired professor of contemporary history at a drop in london university in the process he says there needs to be a fan commitment to getting justice for the victims. everyone is acting. weird. but as far as i know ricci is reacher a guy out there government forces i have seen more and more of. playing together he has shared. principles and i think they're one of the most important aspects to reach. the government. policy relaxes each time day east some report or relation of human rights the people involved should be sent to try old professor let

me ask you then about the civilian population something like one quarter of the population i believe is currently displaced from their homes what i conditions like there on the ground at the moment don't conditions are not boot because they have been sent out from they have to leave their houses and they land and what they have said to me in the last 3 years 3 months ago i was resisting some of these camps and people told me look re are now slaves because we have left there were no land where houses are where mosques the places where we have our. you know are there and at this moment we are. dependant of the older members of the land where we have been settled and generally people down to like a settlement and we know from the mozambican experience and their experience all over the world grandparents and soccer settled that is always an indicated offer an

increase in violence and meaning in the war. now there is growing pressure on new york governor andrew cuomo to resign after a 3rd woman accused him of inappropriate behavior at an iraq worked in the white house during the obama administration and she says cuomo touched her face and back and asked to kiss her after meeting at a wedding reception 2 other women have already accused him of sexual harassment all plans in the u.k. to build the 1st new deep coal mine in 30 years have brought criticism from climate change activists but as andrew symonds reports from white haven in northwest england an opinion poll suggests that 95 percent of locals there support the project. a coastal town in northern england who would want a coal mine bill next to the answer nearly every woman living here who would own she's got only. employment was just think you know it's what we need rounding up

you know papers losing their jobs and it's not lookin bright overlooking white haven a disused pit it is a reminder of what was once the lifeblood of this area generations of miners and their families dependent on coal now comes this futuristic looking plan a promotional video here for a project promising $500.00 new jobs here and an estimated 2000 more in the supply chain west cumbria mining says it's called wouldn't be fueling power stations it would be for steel production and steel will be in big demand for the planned green infrastructure. the green energy projects going forward. wind where nuclear all gonna need stale now to produce stale at the moment we're importing call from all around the wealth you know from places as far aware as australia however protesters say the companies p.r.

campaign and the mayor's views are flawed jobs are a good thing but jobs in a coal mine producing coking coal for a steel industry that is moving away from coking coal that is moving towards electric out furnace is away from blast and this is moving to hydrogen away from coking coal that's not a good thing that's not going to deliver permanent jobs for our local people people in the town have been told by the government that plans for a mine are a local matter and then local decision but it's hardly a local issue it's a national war and with the u.k. hosting the cop $26.00 climate change conference in november aides are telling boris johnson the prime minister but it could all be an international embarrassment but now the local authority has agreed to review the plan could it be off to all the deep mining in the u.k. stays as it was. 30 years ago could find to the history books and do symbols.

even cumbria. now u.s. and canadian diplomats have praised the quality of pineapples burn in taiwan the show of support for the self ruling island comes off to china abruptly imposed an import ban on their sizing harmful creatures in the for years taiwan's government has urged locals to buy more of the 1st in order to cushion the blow for farmers and before that ban china bought 90 percent of the pile apples that were grown on taiwan. and that this is al jazeera these are the headlines 279 schoolgirls kidnapped in the northwestern nigerian state of them fara have been released gunmen took them from a state run school on friday it's the latest of a series of abductions in the region security forces and myanmar continue to crackdown on protests.